September 11th
by CowGirl7384
Summary: Chelsea and Vaughn live in New York and Chelsea is at work September 11th, 2001.  Will her and Vaughn survive the tragedy?  Never written Harvest Moon and did this for a contest for swingdancer23!  Please read and review


**I've never written in Harvest Moon but I'm hoping that I do it justice. Go easy on me please! :P **

I was sitting in my office grabbing another Lindor, dark chocolate truffle from the blue bag. It was too early to be eating them, 8:30 AM to be exact, but I loved it with my coffee. I kept them hidden in my left drawer (no one notices, but in all the movies when a desk is being searched; they always go for the right drawer!) for stressful days like today. I work on the 91st floor in the Northern tower of the Twin Towers in New York City as an environmental lawyer. My husband's name is Vaughn, and he would much rather _not_ live in the city but I love my job although I'm sure someday, maybe when we have kids, we'll move to a smaller town where they will be better influenced.

My secretary walked in as I bit into the sweet chocolate. We both started laughing and I offered her one but she refused; she wasn't into sweets as much as I was.

"Rock needs you on the 90th floor to sign off on some cases." Julia said as she picked up some things from my desk that needed to be shipped off.

"Ok, I'll head down there when I am done with my coffee." I said as I took the last sip. Julia stared at me, knowing I was putting it off as usual. "Ok, I'm going, I'm going." I got up and brushed off my pencil skirt and walked out the double doors with Julia. I gave her a few things that I needed done and then pushed the down button on the elevator. I never looked forward to going down to Rock's office; he was very flirty. I walked into Rock's office and he stood up and walked over to me to hug me…

"Good morning, Chelsea."

"Good morning."

"I just had a few things that I would like you to look over and that I need you to sign off on it."

"Ok, sounds good." I sat down and waited for him to hand something to me but he just stood next to me for a few seconds.

"You smell really good!" Oh, gosh this is awkward.

"Thank…you…I guess." Vaughn hated Rock. He finally gave me the paperwork and as I took it in my hands there was a large thud and then things started falling around us. There were papers and rubble falling outside the windows and the hallway was collapsing. I could hear people screaming and all around chaos all around us.

"Get under the desk!" Rock shouted and I knew he was just as terrified as I was. I ran around the desk and got shoved under it.

"Hey!"

"Hurry up!" We sat under the desk for what seemed like forever, listening to the building rumbling around us.

"How are we going to get out of here?" I asked out of panic.

"I don't know." Rock said who seemed like a nervous wreck.

"I wonder what happened."

"I don't…know." Rock said, irritated.

"I don't expect you to know, I'm nervous."

"And you don't think I'm nervous?"

"I don't really want to argue right now, seems a little selfish." I peeked over the desk and the noises seemed to have gone down.

"I'm going to go see what happened." I said.

"What, are you crazy? Who knows what is going on out there!"

"Yeah, and sitting under a desk is going to do a whole lot more." I slowly opened th door of Rock's office and the hallway seemed to be a mess of rubble and fire. There was something that was sticking through the steel beams that held up this huge steel building. I took off my sweater and put it over my face, trying to avoid the smoke. I searched for someone to tell me what was wrong. I heard a familiar voice yelling down the hallway.

"I'm coming!" I quickly but safely tried to make my way to where I thought the desperate cry for help was coming from. I was surprised when I saw that it was coming from Wills office. The door was blocked and it took me a few minutes to get it open. Julia was one the other side of the door and Will was laying on the floor with a piece of the ceiling laying across his leg.

"Chelsea, help me!" We both ran over to Will and I looked at his twisted leg.

"I think it's broken…" I said.

"I do too." Will said as he winced from the pain.

"Let's try to get this off and make a splint."

"Chelsea…" Julia grabbed my arm. "It was a plan…I saw it…everyone upstairs….if we hadn't come down one floor…" She was almost crying and I got what she was saying. Coming down one floor might just have saved my life.

"Was anyone else in the office yet? We were there early…"

"Lily…" Julia said and her voice cracked. I didn't want to think about what might have happened to her.

"Help me, Julia…" We tried and tried to lift the board but it was impossible with just two girls.

"Hang on." I ran as fast as I could to get Rock.

"Rock…I need you, come on!"

"No way, I'm not going out there."

"Rock! Will is stuck…we have to get him out of there!" Rock hesitated but crawled out of the corner and followed me down the hallway.

"You alright, Will?"

"My legs broke and I've been better, but it's not too bad." Will says sarcastically and Rock glares back.

"You called him away from his corner so he's made and you." Lilly laughed and Rock gave another glare.

"Come on guys." We all took hold of the material laying over Will's leg and pulled with all our might. After several quick attempts we were able to push it aside without causing extreme pain for Will. I started to try to find something to make a splint for Will. I started to wrap my sweater around his leg in order to secure when Lily made me look up

**Vaughn POV**

I made Chelsea breakfast and saw her out the door and then went back to bed. We didn't live far from where she works which was a good and bad thing. I finally got up at 8:30 (Chelsea gets up early.) I fiddled around the apartment and turned on the morning news. I got myself a cup of coffee and looked out the window when I saw it; the plane. I thought it was unusually low and as it neared closer to the building where my wife worked…I panicked. I saw it hit the tower and reached for my phone. I put on some cowboy boots and a jacket over my t-shirt and jeans as I was running out the door and to the elevator as I talked to emergency dispatch.

"My wife works at the world trade center, the north tower, it was just hit by a plane."

"Ok, sir please calm down. What's your wife's name?"

"Why the heck do you need to know that?" I was on the bottom floor by now. Some people are too calm.

"A plane just flew into the freaking World Trade Center!" I yelled into the phone and ran out the double doors. I could see the smoke coming out of the building. I hung up the phone and tried to get a cab but realized it was worthless. I started running towards the building and all kinds of emergency response teams raced by. I think I actually knocked someone over but I kept running for Chelsea. I got as close as I could for a moment and thought I would be exhausted but wouldn't stop. I tried to get through the barricade but a cop stopped me.

"You have to let me in there!"

"I'm sorry sir, I can't do that."

"My wife is in there!"

"There are a lot of loved ones in there, sir…I'm sorry." I felt like I was having some sort of panic attack.

**Chelsea POV**

There was another plane! It was coming straight for us. There are people up there, and I felt like I needed to help them…but there was no way. I could hear them crying for help…they were going to die! How could I just leave them? We started to pull Will out the door and I realized it wasn't about to hit the same tower…it was heading for the South tower.

"Guys…" It hit it right in the middle of the tower and Lily cried as Will held onto her. (Will and Lily are dating.) The tears slowly fell down my face and I thought about the people sitting in that plane…what must they be thinking? It was like we had a moment of silence while the building next to us rumbled and blew out smoke.

"We have to get out of here." I said. We had to get out of the building before it collapsed or we burned up.

"I think I can walk on my other leg, if you guys help me." Will said.

"Ok, that will make things go faster." Rock and I helped Will to his good leg and slowly made our way to the stairway, there was no way I was getting in that elevator. I can't die today; I still have a family to take care of! Vaughn. Does he know what's going on? What is he doing right now?

"Lily…if you can get down faster than us…and get some help…bring up a gurney, things would be a lot easier." She shook her head yes, she knew she had to do it but you could tell that she was nervous.

"I can do that." She said, trying to be confident.

"You're going to be ok, Lily." I told her, trying to reassure her.

"We all will." Will said and it was like those corny moments in a movie. Lily kissed will on the cheek and then we watched her disappear down the stairs but could still hear her shoes hitting very step.

**Vaughn POV**

There was no way that this police officer could get me through. I looked around and saw all of the people scrambling.

"I want to talk to the chief firefighter. He's gotta be here, right?"

"I can't do that, sir."

"Yes, you can. In fact, I can see him right now." I nodded my had to where Denny was standing. Yes, I knew the chief firefighter.

"I don't think that I can, sir."

"Ok, stop calling me sir. And yes you can, because I used to be a firefighter! So go get Denny, and I'll leave you alone!" The cop was speechless and decided to go to get Denny. I saw them talking and when Denny looked over and saw me he ran over.

"What's going on?" I asked before Denny could say anything.

"We're planning on going inside…but I don't know how far we'll get." Denny knows that Chelsea is in there and afraid to tell me that he can't do much.

"I want to go inside." I told him.

"What? Vaughn…you know that I can't let you do that."

"I know what I'm doing, I have to try, Denny. If I don't…and something happens to her…" I stopped there. Denny knew what I was saying and I was afraid of what would happen if I continued talking. Denny thought for a minute.

"Denny…there is no time…who knows how much longer those two buildings will stand."

"Come with me." We walked over to one of the many fire trucks parked all over the busy streets. Denny looked around as if he was trying to avoid being seen. We got to the opposite side of the fire truck and opened the door.

"There is an extra suit in there…" He walked away and I struggled to quickly put on the suit. It was heavier than I remembered, and I realized that I need to start working out, but that's not what is important right now. I walked around the truck and I saw Lily run out of the building. She was over at our house all the time; being that she was Chelsea's best friend and there was no mistaking who it was. I ran over to her.

"Lily are you ok?"

"Chelsea…she's trying to get Will down. He has a broken leg…They are trying to get down but it's taking a long time." She coughed and tried to take deep breathes but was exhausted from running down 90 floors of stairs.

"Get me a paramedic!" I yelled to know one in particular. A few men in blue suites came over and led Lily to an ambulance.

"They'll be ok, Lily." I told her; as I could see the fear on her face. I saw Denny leading several men to the door and he nodded for me to follow. Before running after them I grabbed a gurney that was lying on the ground next to an ambulance and ran to the doors where firefighters and rescue workers were entering the slow burning building. I couldn't stop thinking; Chelsea's on the 91st floor. That was my main destination. As we worked our way up, pairs were assigned floors to evacuate. The highest floors were given priority being that lower floors were not as effected as where the plane had lodged its way into the steel beams. The higher we got the smokier the stairway got. We were jogging up the stairs; trying to hurry as fast as we could. Denny assigned the last men and I expected him to take his own floor and leaving me to the higher floors but he didn't.

"I'm coming with you." I just gave him a thankful smile and rushed to the 91st floor. When we made it to the 80th floor I heard something above us. I looked at Denny and I knew he heard it two.

"It's them." I said and it gave me an extra burst of energy.

"Vaughn, be careful; it's unstable." I heard Denny yell as he tried to keep up. I came to the 85th floor and as I turned the corner I saw Chelsea. She flung herself towards me and I held her in my arms as tight as I could without suffocating her. I couldn't help but cry; I thought that she was gone.

**Chelsea's POV**

I could hear the footsteps pounding up the stairs and it made me go quicker. I was afraid one of us would trip but I was too anxious. I turned the corner at the floor level landing when he came into view and all I could see was his eyes but I knew it was him. I started crying again and didn't want to let go of him.

"I love you so much!" I whispered and he shook his head.

"I love you, too…I thought you were gone..."

"I'm fine…Will's leg is broken." We finally pulled away from each other and I saw that Denny was here; Denny was Vaughn's best friend. He had been in our wedding and he actually introduced us. Denny looked at me, assured I was safe, and then they went to work at putting Will on the gurney that Lily had sent up with them. Things went by a lot faster on the way down, especially now that I knew Chelsea was safe, with me. We got to the bottom and Denny assured Will was going to be ok and then headed back to the building to help his men. I hesitantly looked at him and then at Chelsea.

"Denny, wait!" Denny stopped and looked back at me.

"Chelsea…I have to help him…you know it's the right thing to do. I promise I'll be back…I love you." I kissed her with as much love as I had for her and then walked over to Denny.

**Chelsea's POV**

I saw that look in his eyes and I knew that he was going back. I never liked him being a firefighter but I know that he likes doing it. He said he would come back, but the thought of him going back into that building terrified me. When he walked away I had one more thing to say to him.

"Vaughn!" He stopped one more time and looked at me. I ran as close as I could get to him without being stopped by officers. I didn't know any other way to tell him so I just blurted it out.

"I'm pregnant!" In one quick movement he ran to hug me. We knew that we couldn't keep stopping each other like this, but I had to tell him before he left me, hopefully not for good.

"I'm going to be just fine." He ran towards Denny and they disappeared. I was pulled back far away from the building to avoid falling rubble. Lily had gone to the hospital with Will and I'm pretty sure that Rock is in his Jacuzzi by now. It seemed like I had been hours as I stood there and watched other firefighters walk out of the building but none of them were Vaughn. All of a sudden the building started to rumble. I saw it start to give out and then it was as if it was disintegrating. I was in shock and didn't know what to do. Vaughn was in there, this couldn't be happening! I felt the vibrations in my feet and go through my body. Hours went by and the dust went down and you could see the rubble from a block away. I cried, and then I was angry, and then it was like denial. I was sitting as close to the rubble as possible on the sidewalk. Then there was a tap on my shoulder and a familiar voice.

"Chelsea…what's wrong?" I turned around and I didn't believe it.

"Vaughn? What are you…how…"

"Chelsea…I told you that I was coming back." I stood up and hugged him and I hoped that he would never let go.

"How did you get out?"

"There is more than the front entrance to that building, Chels!" Vaughn teased.

"You scared me to death! Don't ever do that again!" I hit his arm and he pulled me in for a quick kiss. Vaughn pulled away and looked at my stomach with a huge grin. I'm pretty sure my smile was just as big and I nodded my head that wasn't lying like some crazy, emotional girl. He got down on one knee and pretended to talk to the baby like a corny dad would. We started to walk home and though I was devastated at what had happened that day I was happy that my husband was safe and I was pregnant.

That day effected my family forever, and I'll never forget it. I pray for the families that lost love ones everyday and am thankful for my family. We found out that we having a baby girl and can't wait to start our life as parents!


End file.
